ELEVENTH IN LINE |
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 About This Blog A blog about my life, universe, etc. At any given time you might find something endlessly interesting or just me ruminating on something else, which no one (not even myself) finds interesting. That's the way blogs go, I suppose. Anyway, I was eleventh in line, and you weren't. Hah! About Me Name: Sarah Age: 26 Residence: Columbus, OH Religion: LDS Political Score: 5.00/-2.15 Job: Temp @ JPMorgan Chase College: Ohio State University Majors: Political Science, International Studies High School: Home Educated Hobbies: Reading, standing in line for things, writing, research Resume: HotJobs Email: lloannna@gmail.com About My Family My mom is a lawyer in Pickerington; my stepdad and dad are computer guys, and my stepmom (who works with my dad) is an engineer. My sisters are, in order of age, a photographer, an artist, and a person too young to have her own website. My brothers are, in order of age, living up north, and again, a person too young to have a website. At some point soon I'll be collecting links for my aunts, uncle, and cousins. ^_^ Message Services (Please see the notes below the Comment Policy before sending me a message) AIM: lloannna ICQ: 29395930 Yahoo: lloannna My CafePress Designs Even More CafePress Designs Star Wars: Episode 3 Line (Hollywood) My Star Wars Line page   NaNoWriMo 2007: My Novel: Cipere Lumen  NaNoWriMo 2006: My Novel: The Manatee Conspiracy  NaNoWriMo 2005: My Novel: Beyond the Cliffs of Kefira   NaNoWriMo 2004: My Novel: sul Okyar tir taTz'ileea  Worthy Causes Fight the INDUCE Act LDS Foundation - Humanitarian Projects Starlight Children's Foundation    Sponsored Links 
Fun With Social Commentary  Useful Stuff Work Around Internet Censorship (Chinese) Work Around Internet Censorship (English) Atom Feed OR...   Scripture of the Moment 2 Nephi 2:27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. Quote of the Moment William Penn Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers. Scripture/Quote Archive Link of the Moment Oisre Old Links of the Moment A Beaten Path - Travel Reviews One Trilogy to Rule Them All Let the Hobbit Happen Honored Duo of Readers Join My Army 20 Questions Jackie of Inder, Lead Extraordinaire Friendster Fun With Randomness Learn Something Random BlogSpotter Random LJ Images Leon's Random Generators MathCom's Random Number Generator Page Other Stuff I Like KBYU TV KZION - Listen Now My Websites My LiveJournal The SarahFinder My Homepage My (Funny) Harry Potter Fanfiction My (Romantic) Harry Potter Fanfiction My Yahoo! Profile My EZBoard Profile The Rest of the Line Laura's DeviantArt Page Other Stuff 
 Archives November 2002 | December 2002 | January 2003 | February 2003 | March 2003 | April 2003 | May 2003 | June 2003 | July 2003 | August 2003 | September 2003 | October 2003 | December 2003 | March 2004 | April 2004 | May 2004 | June 2004 | July 2004 | August 2004 | September 2004 | October 2004 | November 2004 | December 2004 | January 2005 | February 2005 | March 2005 | April 2005 | May 2005 | June 2005 | July 2005 | August 2005 | September 2005 | October 2005 | November 2005 | December 2005 | January 2006 | March 2006 | April 2006 | July 2006 | November 2006 | January 2007 | March 2007 | April 2007 | June 2007 | July 2007 | October 2007 | November 2007 | December 2007 | January 2008 | Important Info  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed herein are not attributable to my employer, Blogger, Google, those who link to me, or anyone other than the author (as indicated). Comments of visitors are the responsibility of the invididuals posting. No responsibility is taken for the content of materials linked to from this site. Any questions relating to the administration of this site or its content should be directed to Sarah Marie Parker-Allen, at lloannna@gmail.com. BLAP Statement: -- If I mention something that's been published and is still available on the Internet, I will link to it. Well, if I know it's there, anyway. -- Once I've posted something, I will not make substantive changes to the body of the post. Any changes will be noted with an "EDIT" tag at the bottom of the post in question, or will be noted in a subsequent post. Typos, stylistic errors, and link updates will occur, without time limit (though if it's been a while, I'll let you know). If I really really regret a post, it's likely I'll post about cats or something for a while in pennance. You've been warned. -- If I find something through the efforts of another blogger (in fact, of anyone I can link to), I'll credit them with a link (the style of such a link is pretty much up to my mood, so don't expect consistency in that area). -- My comment policy is listed below. Comment Policy I like comments, and I'll keep them activated. HOWEVER, if you want to start a flamewar, go somewhere else. If you want to get me to start arguing with you about Ohio State vs. Michigan, whether Mormons are Christian, how stupid being spoiler free is, or pretty much anything else inflamatory (inflamatory is in the eye of me in this case -- if you don't trust my judgement, too bad), go somewhere else. All links to pornography, all instances of vulgar language, and anything else I don't think is appropriate for my sisters, brother, neice, and nephew to see (ages 1-18), or quite frankly appropriate for ME to see, will be edited as I see fit (probably with links to something else, or alternate words, or what have you). All spam comments, including blatant off-topic self-promotion, will be deleted. If you've been banned, feel free to email me; if you're uncivil, please know that I'm interested in finding out exactly how many people I can add to my killfile without bringing my processer speed to zero, and don't mind using your address in my experiments. I reserve the right to delete and/or ban anyone I want. If you need to say it that badly, go get your own blog. They're free, you know. A Note About Chatting and Emails I'm not what you would call an extremely social or extraverted person. As a matter of fact, I tend to test 100% introvert on Myer-Briggs and other personality profile tests. Therefore, please be aware that most of the time, if I don't already know you (either in person or through weeks/months/years of email contact) the chances are I won't be very talkative if you IM me. I like having a long time to consider what I say, and that goes double for what I say to total strangers. Please don't think me scary, rude, hateful, or even just someone in a perpetual bad mood, if chat efforts are unsuccessful. Quite frankly, it's probably better for you to go find someone else to chat with, unless you have something significant to say. And if it's that important, you should probably email me. Which reminds me to let you know now that if you do choose to email me, it might be days, weeks, months, years, or never before I email you back. It takes a lot of energy for me to come up with replies to random inquiries from strangers, and most of the time there's something I'd rather be doing instead. Your understanding is appreciated. I'm not saying don't try, I'm just saying -- have minimal expectations, okay? Thanks. Oh, and if you DO know me, don't treat this statement as an excellent excuse not to talk to me. You know who you are.  
 Credits and Such |
Thursday, September 25, 2003
I NEED A HOLIDAY... Well, actually, technically speaking, no I don't. But I'm going to GET one, at least from the online world. You see, my friends, I'm moving tonight to Jackie's parents' house. And they won't have a phone line, internet, cable TV, or dryer for a week. Unfortunately, I won't be able to set up my blog the way I thought I could (to do automatic additions for new blogs for my blog trials), so we'll be saying adieu for a while. Maybe I'll be able to post from a library or something; who knows. See you all on the flip side! . | 0 comments | Wednesday, September 24, 2003
My own monumental stupidity... Really throws me for a loop sometimes. There comes a moment, every once in a while, where I prove to myself conclusively that I'm an idiot. Tonight, at 1:23am, that moment came again. Though really one ought to place it closer to 1:46am, which is when I found out that the car that I THOUGHT had completely died on me (I was already three-fourths of the way to a cohesive coping plan, and had figured out how to get to work and back for the next few weeks, at least, without a car at all), had simply gotten a flat tire. No, I didn't mistype that, I'm not guessing, THAT'S ALL THERE WAS THAT WAS WRONG WITH MY CAR. I was practically in tears with the (very calm) AAA representative, and couldn't remember the name of the place that we always always ALWAYS take the car to. I was completely in panic mode. I was extremely worried when I told the AAA mechanic/tow guy (I hope he makes more than I do, coming out to halfway hysterical girls in the early hours of the morning just to find out they're also DUMB GIRLS who don't need to get towed anywhere at all!) that I'd try to back up for him to hitch my car up. I didn't detect laughter or derision in his voice, for which I will be eternally grateful, when he told me I had a flat. Thankfully my dad thinks more clearly than I do regarding such matters; the Ford Taurus standard spare tire was in the right spot (for reasons unknown to me, I actually knew where it was). Watching the AAA guy change my tire was very instructive. The tire is fine-looking on the outside, but on the inside (the side that faces the interior of the car) it's completely ripped to shreds. It occurs to me that my mom once told me she'd never let me drive without knowing how to change the oil and the tires, and I don't know how to do either. It also occurs to me that the reason my parents never told me my official IQ is probably NOT because the number is really really high. The smell of burning rubber (who DOESN'T know what that smells like????) is probably permanently scarring the interior of my car, not to mention everything in it (*sniffle*), and yet it didn't even OCCUR to me that my car might have something as utterly mundane and common as a flat tire. For the record, the car started making slight klinky noise around Ball and Beach (don't laugh) Blvd., but only when I accelerated from 25 to 35. It began making more serious vibrations and noises about a mile later. THEN it began chugging and making violent noises and smelling horrible about two and a half miles after that; I drove another 100 yards or so to the next light and managed to park it legally (and just beyond the "no parking 8am-12pm Wednesday" zone!!). My only excuse is that I was going 35-45 the whole time, and have never been in a car with a flat tire before. It's a lame excuse. I'm treating the Taurus to a new tire and fluid check (possibly four new tires, though THAT would be a lot of money to spend on a car with 214,000 miles on it) Speaking of which, I had practically written a eulogy for the car for the blog in my head by the time the tow truck guy arrived. Suffice to say I am awash in my own lameness. . | 0 comments | Monday, September 22, 2003
WHAT IS ESSENTIAL TO BLOGGING? It seems that Daniel Weintraub's blog is now being subjected to editorial review before being published. I, like Glenn Reynolds, only read the Bee because of his blog. Not only do I just read his stuff, mind, I also read the news stories and other opinion pieces, especially when he points them out as something worth reading. On the one hand, I want to say that this seems contrary to the basic nature of blogging (which is extremely spontaneous, and often controversial or contentious); on the other, this is clearly exactly what one expects from newspaper editors (amongst other things, what kind of editor is going to argue that he's superfluous in ANY medium, let alone an emerging opinion vehicle like blogging???). Are their two natures diametrically opposed? Is it impossible to be a blogger for a mainstream newspaper? Or have we been making assumptions about what makes a blog a blog (and what makes a blog a good blog)? Let me think about it for a bit; I'll get back to you. . | 0 comments | OH, THE HUMANITY... I will (*gasp, choke, whimper*) be without phone or internet for almost two weeks starting on Moving Day, the twenty-sixth of September. I'll be surviving on cookies, ice cream, and my cell phone's voice mail service (I can check that from selected landlines from time to time). I'm currently working on a way to keep my "new blog trials" going, even though I won't be able to actually surf those pages until October. . | 0 comments | Sunday, September 21, 2003
WORKING IN A COAL MINE... I need to see if the new "title" feature works the way I need it to. If it doesn't, we'll go back to the old school. . | 0 comments | DUM DEE DOO DEE DAH... I don't have a lot of time because I want to catch Jackie at work before she leaves, and that means high-tailing it out of here ASAP. Beginning to hate 1am closings, would love to have a job which would give me normal hours and Saturdays off. Anyway, new blog for the blog trials, V+. Go check them out, but don't feel you have to let them know I sent you (I'm pretty sure they already have more traffic than I do). BTW, official ISHTE ALERT: it's white text on a black background. You have been warned. . | 0 comments | Saturday, September 20, 2003
AND THE BEAT GOES ON... Number three in the list of new blogs I'm reading is... Titusonenine! Happy blogging, Kendall, I'll be reading with interest! . | 0 comments | Friday, September 19, 2003
NEW WAY TO GET THIS BLOG: Via email! That's right, you can now join this group and get all the posts made to the blog sent straight to your mailbox. . | 0 comments | BY THE BY... I be giving up on posting exclusively in Pirate-speak for the day, mateys. It's just too hard to say anything of substance. Aye, but it be fun now and again! Anyway, the first two posts of the day are Piratized, and that's probably good enough. Aarrr. . | 0 comments | FINDING THE RIGHT STUFF ONLINE IS SO HARD TO DO... Now, I know that with all of you out there trying desperately to find whatever it is you're looking for (I know you're out there, and no, this site has nothing to do with the health benefits of standing in line), there is bound to be someone looking for all the other people who are eleventh in line for... well, for something. Now, if you were looking for the person who was eleventh in line for the first showing of Star Wars Episode II at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in May of 2002, your search is over! Congratulations, go get yourself a smoothie. But what if you were looking for someone who was eleventh in line to something else? That would be a problem, because as far as I know, I'm not eleventh in line to anything other than that one showing of that movie (for what it's worth, a guy named Rik was eleventh in line to Episode I). So as a public service to you, my readers, I'm going to give you (on a hopelessly irregular basis) occasional information on all the other people who are eleventh in line. To, uh, stuff. First up? The person who is eleventh in line to... succeed the President during a time of his incapacity!!! That's right, the constitutional line of succession. It turns out this is actually kind of interesting right now, because Ms. Eleventh In Line, Elaine Chao (the Secretary of Labor), isn't a natural born citizen of the US, and is ineligible to assume the office or duties of the President (3 USC 19(e)). So we have to move on to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and he just happens to be... Tommy G. Thompson!!!! That's right, our good old friend and former governor of Wisconsin (not Pennsylvania, as some people might think -- that's the Secretary of Homeland Security). Look to the Wikipedia article on him for more info, and also check out the Wiki on the Constitutional Line of Succession. Next time, we're going to take a look at who's eleventh in line to the throne of England, so stay tuned! . | 0 comments | AVAST, THAR BE ANOTHER FINE BLOG AHEAD! Ahoy, mateys, and welcome aboard on our voyage t'discov'r blogworthy bloggers from around the world! I be most pleased to put forth for yer perusal this inspired family group blog: The Milner Blog Now, off with ye! . | 0 comments | AAARRRRRRR, THEY BE FOLLOWING MY LEAD, MATEYS! As well they should be, no doubt about it. Tho' the thanks really ought go to Daniel Weintraub and the fine buccaneer crew of the California Broadcasters Association (it be they who released the questions, mateys), I be liking to think I had a small part in this. Aaarrrrr!!! . | 0 comments | Thursday, September 18, 2003
HOW TO OVERWHELMINGLY INCREASE YOUR NUMBER OF HITS WITHOUT EVEN -- OH WAIT, I ACTUALLY HAD TO TRY... Wow, so, "hi" to everyone who came from the California Insider! As Mr. Weintraub indicated, I'm 22, a Harry Potter fan (amongst other things), and I'm in Long Beach. You all are the biggest group of people ever to find me, even ranking higher than the folks who were looking for dirty pictures of some other girl named Sarah (PopDex searches by "freshness" are, apparently, not very helpful in this regard). Anyway, welcome. It is so cool to have you stop by. . | 0 comments | SOMETHING NEW Okay, assuming you're through reading my epic debate answering post, you're probably exhausted and interested in something light and fluffy. Which isn't really what I'm going to give you now, though it's close enough, I suppose. You see, I've decided to help out the other relatively untravelled blogs out there by linking to them and repeatedly visiting to see if I like them. I'm going to give each one of them thirty-one days to prove themselves to me, and if I like them, I'm going to add them to the BlogRoll over there on the left. How am I going to find them? Not by Carnival of the Vanities links, not from InstaPundit references, not from Googlatives results -- no, my friends, I'm going to use the Random Blog feature at BlogSpot. I'll just start clicking on it till I find a blog updated in the last ten days with content I'm interested in and which I consider family-friendly, and then I'll post a link here. I want to do this at least once a day, which means sometimes there will be three one day and none for the two days preceding it. Sorry, I work for a living. Who is our first contender? Ophelia Turns Blue This is a virtually brand-new blogger (she started this week) and she has style. I wish her much luck and much blogging between now and next month. ^_^ . | 0 comments | I MAY NOT BE RUNNING, BUT THIS IS STILL FUN... Daniel Weintraub has posted the 12 questions for the gubernatorial candidates who will be attending the debate on September 24th (the California Broadcasters' Association is sponsoring the affair, Schwarzenegger says he'll be there.) Now, I'm no gubernatorial candidate (I need three more years of residency -- and, coincidentally enough, need to be three years older than I am now! -- in order to run), but I figure, why not answer the questions myself? Now, mind, I get to answer these from the perspective of a 22-year-old who doesn't want to run for election, and I get to be snarkier, sillier, more idealistic, less realistic, and more honest about how I see things than any of the candidates (yes, even Angelyne). So, here we go. How would you propose enhancing revenue and/or what specific cuts would you propose to achieve a balanced budget? I would like to see a decrease in the basic administrative fees and state-mandated costs required to start and maintain a business in this state. Without sales (and possibly income) tax revenues (which we've been losing as businesses leave, choose not to expand, or aren't even begun in the first place), our budget cannot possibly be supported. I would also recommend reductions in pay to state-level elected officials (including the governor), and a reduced legislative session. Which, of course, would have the additional benefit of preventing the legislature from enacting more spending bills. Leaders in the business community are convinced that this state is losing jobs and unable to attract new businesses. If you agree, what are two things you would change to make this a more business-friendly state? If you disagree, what are the misconceptions you would like to correct? Well, as you could probably guess from how I answered the last question, I do agree with that proposition. The simple fact is that our regulatory enviornment is incredibly un-welcoming to businesses, and that efforts to expand are penalized (for example, if you have more than X number of employees, your costs go up by far more than they should, because now you have to provide them with so many additional amenities). Even Proposition 13, which held property taxes at their last assessment value, forces reassessment whenever a property is bought or sold, thus providing a disincentive to those who would like to, for example, increase the size or improve the location of a business. Frankly, it makes better business sense to stay stagnant, shrink, or simply move away. As to two specific solutions, I'd like to see a moratorium on new legislation targeted at businesses of all sizes, and a complete overhaul of the worker's comp system in the state. How are you going to insure that all Californians have adequate healthcare? I don't believe that it is the job of the state (either in the "state of California" sense or the "government" sense) to ensure that kind of thing. I'd like to see a lot less regulation of the industry, and I'd like us to get out of the business of providing sub-par health care to the poor. Speaking as a person with no health insurance who has seen government involvement disrupt everything from education to electricity, I can't see how more government intervention would make this better. Everybody talks about wanting a colorblind society but what does that actually mean to you? In other words, how do we know when we have succeeded? Presumably, when no one feels the need to ask what my exact racial background is. A good benchmark would be when the government stopped asking -- and yes, I support Proposition 54. What should be the top priority for California right now? Well, once we've cleared out the governor's mansion, Californians should get back to the business of living their lives, and the government should get into the business of reducing its own role in their lives. A comprehensive look at state expenditures, and an elimination of those which are redundant, irrelevant, or otherwise inappropriate for a state to be spending (especially given our budget crisis) would be high on the list. If elected Governor, will you support the expansion of charter schools in California? Yes, along with a relaxation of interference in private alternatives to public schooling (private schools, home education, etc.), and the introduction of voucher programs with minimal supervision. We've proven, I think, that a lot of supervision has only made things worse -- trying minimal supervision seems to be the next option on the list. What do you expect to accomplish in the time remaining on Gray Davis’ term that he could not? Choosing not to sign bills into legislation which serve no real purpose appropriate for state involvement, making the electorate and the 49 other state governors aware that California can be run competently, and shutting George Will up about how we're the sick man of the republic. What is the single most important piece of legislation either signed or vetoed during this past legislative session? Part of me wants to say the license bill for illegal immigrants, but in the end I think that the car registration tax is more significant, simply because its negative impact on citizens of this state is more than just ghostly fears of misuse and terrorism -- to tax and then spend is one thing, but to spend and then announce you have to tax to cover the expenditure is much worse. And as I am not in favor of progressive or punitive taxation, the fact that this will lead to more bus usage and fewer classic cars bought by Jay Leno seems to be not only pointless but in fact, bad for California. I say encourage Jay Leno to buy a thousand vintage cars, employ dozens of contrators to build a garage, and a few full-time mechanics and experts to maintain the fleet. Not to mention, the cost of convincing a million Jane and Joe Smiths to keep their gas-guzzling, smog-spewing, falling-apart-at-the-seams junkmobiles for another few years is going to far exceed whatever revenues can be acquired thanks to those who just can't help but buy a brand new car. And I'd rather not have to hire game theorists and statisticians to let me know at what point taxes will be so high that we'll need to bring in Mexican citizens by the busfull just to keep our population steady. Do you support reducing the Vehicle License Fee (car tax), and if so, where would you find the revenue to replace the loss to the budget? I support returning it to its previous level, and possibly lowering it from there. If there aren't enough revenues to be found in reducing the pay for state-level employees and the legislature, reducing the amount of time the legislature is in session, etc., then I will recommend making gambling legal throughout the state, authorizing the sale, concealed carriage, and taxation of all firearms not made illegal under federal law, and real investment (i.e. the buying of stock) in start-ups and expansion firms. There's a lot one can learn from Nevada and New Mexico. What services will your Administration expect local governments to provide and what stable source of revenue will you give them to do it? I would expect them to provide the services their citizens choose to demand and pay for. It's not the business of the state to dictate unfunded mandates to localities, nor is it our business to give them money to do our bidding. If the state absolutely, positively, has to have something done, it ought to pay localities for the costs incurred to them (in other words, if there's a CalWorks office in Anaheim, it had better be paying taxes to the local and county governments), and be apologetic about the interference. Under Governors Pat Brown and Ronald Reagan, California spent up to 20% of its General Fund on Infrastructure - such as roads, bridges, colleges, hospitals and water systems. Now we spend closer to 1%. Proposition 53 on the ballot raises that figure to 3%. What are your positions on Prop. 53 and what will you do to invest more in California's aging infrastructure? Privatization of services the state doesn't need to be involved in, less regulation over the construction industry, fee-for-service arrangements in selected state businesses, and a reduction in the involvement the state has in things which don't help it sustain itself. More programs like premium fast lanes, which allow those who are willing to sustain the costs of convenience help subsidize those who can't or who are willing to live without convenience. Yes, priority service at the DMV, if that's what it takes. I oppose Proposition 53, simply because I can't see any way to prevent things like that leading to 5% here, 10% there, and oh gosh, it turns out we can't actually pay for fire fighters because we're mandated to protect the otters. Better to convince the electorate to vote for sensible, responsible legislators, even though I realize that's not very likely to work. As our population continues to age, the demand for government services to seniors will increase dramatically during the next decade. What do you intend to do to proactively manage this demand? Privatization and deregulation of the health insurance industry will go a long way. We have to be prepared to adjust for changing spending and lifestyle habits, as well as accept that our school and work-age populations will be decreasing in proportion to the retirement-age population (though perhaps immigrant population patterns will keep that from being too big of a deal). Making the state more reliant on sales taxes (as opposed to income and property taxes), improving public transportation infrastructures (possibly by encouraging private investment), and adapting current infrastructure (like schools, which may be underused in some areas) to transition to future needs, would all help. NOTE: Well, there you have it. Like I said, maybe not the most realistic. Probably 90% of what I believe in, the general public won't accept. Maybe 50% won't even work. But it would be so cool to have a candidate articulate even a few of the general themes that I tried to put forth up there. My realistic streak (the one that comes in and says "you're NEVER going to run for elected office, Sarah, and you know you'll vote for Schwarzenegger unless there's incredibly major changes in the next few weeks") knows that my candidate won't say much, if any, of it. But a girl can dream, right? . | 0 comments | Wednesday, September 17, 2003
PUBLIC POLICY WORK IS NOT LIKE THIS AT ALL There are a lot of good "reasons not to hate your job" links popping up lately. This one (about the worst jobs in science) is guaranteed to make you cringe (hat tip: Slashdot). And XRLQ has some pictures from truly "wow my job isn't so bad now that I've seen this" jobs. . | 0 comments | Tuesday, September 16, 2003
I'M CONFUSED... If the issue is disenfranchisement (as far as voters using punch-card machines to vote instead of something more modern and less "risky" or complicated), I can't see how the argument that we have to delay the election holds water. At least in MY county (Los Angeles), there are and have been touch-screen voting locations available for "years" (according to my sample ballot), which anyone can choose to go to in place of their original polling location. You have to get time off on an Election Day if that's what it'll take to get to a polling location (according state and I think federal law), all the polling places have to be handicap accessible -- heck, the sample ballot even says that the things are BETTER for people who need translations or handicap assistance, because they can vote without assistance from an actual person (the translator or reader). So where's the disenfranchisement? . | 0 comments | Monday, September 15, 2003
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAROLINE I don't feel old enough to have a seventeen-year-old younger sister, but apparently I now AM old enough to have such a relation. How dare time move foward. Seriously, happy birthday, Caroline. I've got to cash a check and your graduation/birthday/welcome to college package can be shipped to you. Whee! . | 0 comments | Friday, September 12, 2003
CONDOLANCES FOR ANNA LINDH MAY BE DIRECTED TO: Utrikesdepartementet, 103 39 Stockholm E-mail: mailto:registrator@foreign.ministry.se Fax: 08-723 11 76 Source: Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (note: this is now the second-highest ranking search that gets people to my blog, right after Schwarzenegger references) . | 0 comments | Monday, September 08, 2003
IN HONOR OF MY MANY SEARCHENGINE COMRADES: I know that one or two of the people who read this today will be looking for information on how to contact the Schwarzenegger campaign. How do I know? Because people get here using such terms as "schwarzenegger headquarters main street" (and I bet they thought it was REALLY funny to find a Disneyland employee who talks about the recall election... and doesn't put the HQ address on her site!). Therefore, for your informational pleasure... the only address I have available for the campaign: 3110 Main Street Santa Monica, CA 90405 (310) 664-9002 Open from 9am to 9pm daily (according to the phone message they left me yesterday) I hope that helps. . | 0 comments | Saturday, September 06, 2003
I GOT SOMETHING IN THE MAIL TODAY Which was way more interesting than my student loan bill. Yes, that's right, it's my very first actual mailing from the Schwarzenegger campaign. The text of the back is as follows: ************************* Vote YES on Recall LET'S BRING CALIFORNIA BACK! "When I first came to California 35 years ago, our state was a place of dreams. Today, dreams, opinions, and opportunity are eluding too many Californians. Our people are doing their part, working hard, paying their taxes, raising their families and providing their children with the tools to succeed. But California's politicians have not done their part. Our state is in trouble, and I'm running for governor to end business as usual in California. Fiscally Conservative Government with Republican Principles
Rebuild California's Economic Engine
Put Our Children First
Reform Sacramento so the Public Interest Comes Before Special Interests End the cycle of campaign contributions buying access and legislative and executive favors. Where every decision has one criterion: what is in the best interests of the people of California, for now and for the future. Please return the attached absentee ballot application today. Make your voice heard to bring about needed change in Sacramento. I hope you will join me in our campaign to bring California back to the people." Arnold Schwarzenegger Vote-by-Mail to Recall Gray Davis. Vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger for Governor. For a yard sign, bumper sticker or to help Arnold's campaign, visit us at www.joinarnold.com. Paid for by Californians for Schwarzenegger, with additional funding provided by Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall Committee, Vote Yes to Recall Gray Davis. Major funders of the recall committee include William Lyons Homes, Inc. and Paul Folino. ************************** I'll probably comment more later, but suffice to say that I'm conflicted. I don't like some proposals, a few are non-proposals that are basically just Things That Will Sound Good (what the heck kind of a platform says it'll "help small businesses grow" and leaves it at that?), a few sound terrific (can't get enough of that "shift authority to local schools"), and at least one is completely outside the scope of the Governor's duties and obligations: how on earth does ANY governor of California manage to make English the official language of the entire country? I think that one was pulled from a Republican Party national platform circa 1994, possibly via a Typically Suicidal California Republican Party platform from a few years later. . | 0 comments | Thursday, September 04, 2003
NOW, TELL ME WHAT YOU REALLY THINK... You can now give me a review beyond just an email saying "your site is weird." That's right, apparently BlogStreet has a review feature... I think this link should work. I'm going to add it to the template now. . | 0 comments | Wednesday, September 03, 2003
STUFF OF SUBSTANCE: So... "tonight" is like, a really nebulous term, which can in fact mean "sometime this week," right? Yeah, let's go with that. I've been working on a lot of stuff in my head which, now that schedules are being radically reduced over at DL, will hopefully be making its way to the blog and sites soon. Amongst the items: why I don't hate "Joe Schmo" or feel bad for Matt (the "guy who thinks it's real"), when I thought I would; good reasons to get government out of schooling; my thoughts on actually getting to the business of creating my own future. Also, expect lots of "comparison shopping" stuff regarding looking for an apartment online. It's a real bear of a project. Note: I had a comment which I didn't reply to, and meant to... though he'll probably never come back, let me just mention to the person who thought I was remiss in my obligations by being tardy 7 times in eight months: this is longest time I've ever had a job, most of the "lates" were less than five minutes (or more than 3 hours -- either traffic or mix-ups in scheduling), and I'm getting rave reviews. The majority of employers I've had in the past were either thrilled to have me show up at all (this held true for all employees) or so dead-set on absolute punctuality (not to mention a laundry list of other minor conformity issues) that I gave up on them after a few weeks. You sound like my former employer at the City of Anaheim, who believed I was late if I wasn't sitting at my desk, gazing lovingly at the phone (which almost never rang), five minutes before my actual start time of 8am (so that I would be ready to get to the Vital And Urgent Work of cataloguing old records of public works projects, exactly on time). I recall coming in to work praying he'd fire me (we parted ways after a month, mutually agreeing that my probationary period hadn't worked out very well) every day, and muttering under my breath that this is the sort of thing I ought to have expected from an employer which had me working exactly 32 hours per week, because if it was any more than that, they'd have to give me health insurance. When I realized that the working conditions compared unfavorably to those in the US military (at least they have benefits, and senior officers are supposed to salute back -- i.e. actually have or at least demonstrate some level of respect for you -- when you salute them), it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that that place and I weren't a good fit for one another. . | 0 comments | Because only so many people can be eleventh in line. 
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